Firmware Update Gen 5 for Ursa Mini Pro G2

Like many of you, I know this is not what we want to hear.

Certainly this seems to be the case - but in all fairness, the real thrust of this whole multi-year saga is simply that - that we would like to hear it's EOL if it's EOL. That's not really the kind of thing that needs to be under wraps in my opinion.

No, BM does not owe us any explanations, they don't owe us a roadmap or marketing strategy, and they certainly don't owe us an update.
Yet, it may come off as problematic to someone who were to go buy it at B&H today as a new, high level product offering that unusually has no support. And so the threads keep piling up unfortunately.

As an aside, in my hunt to figure out where I first began to think UMP G2 was mentioned as a camera that would get Gen 5, I came across some of the v7 software threads. There was a back and forth with some BM reps about the 7.2 beta. I personally really like that kind of dialoguing, and would love to see more communication about the software again - I'm not going to get that with Sony or Canon, and it's kind of a nice humanizing touch.

Best,
-Daniel

I'm not holding out hope anymore. However, I feel the GIF from Titanic is now apt.

titanic-meme

84_years_meme.jpg (186.13 KiB) Viewed 1311 times

Yet, it may come off as problematic to someone who were to go buy it at B&H today as a new, high level product offering that unusually has no support. And so the threads keep piling up unfortunately.

Oh no, keep the thread going, but expect nothing.
It is a travesty that when someone today goes and buy a G2 from a reseller, they are buying a new and in production high end Cine camera that has no support. The warranty may be applicable for hardware defects the next 12 months but it will never have the latest color science- Gen 5. He/she will be surprised when the client comes up to them and says, “hey, I want that extended color I saw from the b-cam (Pocket 4K) that you gave me last night in Prores after the shoot. I need the same from the a-cam (G2) in Prores after the shoot today. That will hit the cam-op like a ton of bricks because how can he do, match that with filming it in gen4 BRAW. Maybe he/she can whip out a laptop (assuming a Mac), run DR 18, convert gen4 to gen5 BRAW, then transcode the gen5 BRAW to Prores. What a PITA! Then at that point, he just realized that he had the UMP G2 for more than 30 days and he just can’t return it anymore.

[quote="Ellory Yu"][quote="Daniel Rheaume"]
Yet, it may come off as problematic to someone who were to go buy it at B&H today as a new, high level product offering that unusually has no support. And so the threads keep piling up unfortunately.
[/quote]
Oh no, keep the thread going, but expect nothing.
It is a travesty that when someone today goes and buy a G2 from a reseller, they are buying a new and in production high end Cine camera that has no support. The warranty may be applicable for hardware defects the next 12 months but it will never have the latest color science- Gen 5. He/she will be surprised when the client comes up to them and says, “hey, I want that extended color I saw from the b-cam (Pocket 4K) that you gave me last night in Prores after the shoot. I need the same from the a-cam (G2) in Prores after the shoot today. That will hit the cam-op like a ton of bricks because how can he do, match that with filming it in gen4 BRAW. Maybe he/she can whip out a laptop (assuming a Mac), run DR 18, convert gen4 to gen5 BRAW, then transcode the gen5 BRAW to Prores. What a PITA! Then at that point, he just realized that he had the UMP G2 for more than 30 days and he just can’t return it anymore.[/quote]

Yep, this is an issue I face when handing footage back to a client.
usually means that I have to do extra unpaid work to match the videos.

[quote][quote="MochoCinematic"][quote="Ellory Yu"][quote="Daniel Rheaume"]
Yet, it may come off as problematic to someone who were to go buy it at B&H today as a new, high level product offering that unusually has no support. And so the threads keep piling up unfortunately.
[/quote]
Oh no, keep the thread going, but expect nothing.
It is a travesty that when someone today goes and buy a G2 from a reseller, they are buying a new and in production high end Cine camera that has no support. The warranty may be applicable for hardware defects the next 12 months but it will never have the latest color science- Gen 5. He/she will be surprised when the client comes up to them and says, “hey, I want that extended color I saw from the b-cam (Pocket 4K) that you gave me last night in Prores after the shoot. I need the same from the a-cam (G2) in Prores after the shoot today. That will hit the cam-op like a ton of bricks because how can he do, match that with filming it in gen4 BRAW. Maybe he/she can whip out a laptop (assuming a Mac), run DR 18, convert gen4 to gen5 BRAW, then transcode the gen5 BRAW to Prores. What a PITA! Then at that point, he just realized that he had the UMP G2 for more than 30 days and he just can’t return it anymore.[/quote][/quote]

Yep, this is an issue I face when handing footage back to a client.
usually means that I have to do extra unpaid work to match the videos.[/quote]

Dear Blackmagic Design,

As an Ursa Mini Pro G2 (+P6KPro) owner I am straightforward MAD at you because you have put RGB clipping histogram in freakin' iPhones, while I still have to film in gen4 and can get to gen5 only in post.

Really, and I mean, REALLY?!!

Only the best,
Yours truly

Really feeling the hurt on this, as we are a diverse Blackmagic shop trying to make some hard decisions about our camera ecosystem's future. Our G2s are workhorses for us, we produce a lot of greenscreen content in our studio as well as content outside. The positive results I've seen in Gen5 color science, with the better aesthetic, and cleaner keying in Gen5 Color, not to mention the ability to match with the pocket cinema cameras or pretty much any other new camera Blackmagic has put out now is a plus.

I would love to skip the step of having to post process our BRAW with Gen4 color into Gen5 via Premiere or Resolve, and more importantly, be able to shoot in Gen5 for our live monitoring and broadcasting.

The Camera OS has also languished a little on this camera, and seeing as this camera is still for sale as the 4.6k flagship camera as of November 2023 I'm just so puzzled about how little love this camera has seen from it's maker, almost intentionally since almost every other camera in Blackmagic's lineup has been improved upon.

To reiterate, this camera is still being sold. If it was marked as EOL, I would totally understand, but it is being offered front and center next to the UMP12K and other models that are on a completely different generation of color and feature set.

I'm not sure what else to say. I don't come here to pile on any hatred for Blackmagic, but we are in a difficult position now as we look to refresh our equipment. I'm concerned there's no direct replacement for the G2 either. The UMP12K doesn't do ProRes or have ATEM Control, I did not like the Studio 4k Pro in my time evaluating it. That leaves the Broadcast G2 and its smaller sensor I suppose, we'll be playing with one shortly. I get the sense Blackmagic is splitting up and isolating their product use cases and moving away from jack of all trades cameras. For us the 4.6k G2 is great, and again, still being sold. I just don't understand why a flagship camera like that is rotting on Blackmagic's home page, but I'm taking notice.